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The taxicab industry is serving as a laboratory for new mobile payment technologies, with VeriFone Systems Inc.’s new cloud-based Way2ride app the latest example. VeriFone this month in New York City is launching a mobile app in 7,000 cabs enabling riders to tap to pay using any iOS or Android smartphone. Users download the app and link it to any credit card, then activate the app when riding in a cab by tapping near the speaker located below the interactive screen that typically faces customers. Each Way2ride transaction is a separate payment, a VeriFone spokesperson tells Paybefore. Users may add a tip from preselected tip rates when the trip is complete; the receipt is stored within the app, the company said.

Way2ride is the first deployment of Zoosh, VeriFone’s proprietary ultrasound-based payment technology, which uses the speakers and microphones of smartphones to securely exchange encrypted data between devices, according to VeriFone. The San Jose-based terminal maker said it has plans to expand the Way2ride app to more of New York City’s 13,000 licensed cabs and hopes to further expand among the 70,000-plus payment-enabled taxis worldwide. VeriFone said it also hopes to use Zoosh to build mobile payment apps for other vertical markets, including petroleum sales at the pump and inside convenience stores.

A handful of startups were first to this market in New York and other major cities around the world. Uber Technologies Inc. and Hailo Network USA each offer mobile apps for iOS and Android devices enabling passengers to use their smartphones to hail and pay for cabs. San Francisco-based Uber serves 24 U.S. cities and 16 cities abroad; Hailo, with operations in the U.S. and London, serves 12 cities with an iOS and Android app.

VeriFone separately on Aug. 5 announced VeriFone Point, a payment-as-a-service solution that bundles various services for merchants and acquirers, including payments hardware, software, security and PCI compliance.

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